Way2Go Adventures is a family owned outdoor activity provider in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley, run by mother and son team, Dianne Worrall and Wayne Morgan. Dianne has accessed a range of business support and training offered by Fastershire, FasterBusiness programme.

Wednesday 28th November 2018

The potential to make efficiencies and improve communications through the use of mobile technology can be significant. Improvements in performance, monitoring and day to day work routines are possible - attend the FasterFarmer's free workshop to learn how farming can harness mobile technology.

20th September, 2018

Some of the hardest to reach homes and businesses in Herefordshire are set to benefit from faster broadband thanks to an innovative new approach.
Herefordshire Council’s broadband initiative, Fastershire has secured funding to provide superfast broadband access for some of the most remote properties in the county.

14th August, 2018

Some of the hardest to reach homes and businesses in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire are set to benefit from faster broadband as part of the Viable Clusters element of Stage 4 of the Fastershire Broadband Strategy.

29th June, 2018

Fastershire, has won the top prize at the national Connected Britain awards in London.The Connected Britain Awards aim to recognise the innovation and achievement of those companies who are at the forefront of Britain’s digital transformation.

23rd March, 2018

KemPowell, Acre Accountancy, Munday Taylor Lamont and Like Radio have become the first businesses in Herefordshire to benefit from a grant, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Fastershire, to enable them to access superfast broadband.

13th June, 2017

Elmstone Hardwicke, Stoke Orchard, Deerhurst, Portway and Brookthorpe have been announced as the first communities in Gloucestershire that will benefit from the next phase of faster broadband rollout being delivered by Gigaclear through the Fastershire project.

9th May, 2017

Three Herefordshire businesses have benefited from improved broadband thanks to the Fastershire broadband project.
Eastnor Castle, the Land Rover Experience Eastnor and D3 Active received a grant to fund the installation of a new broadband connection from Herefordshire Council’s Fastershire project. The grant has been used to purchase three lease line providing access to 100Mbps download and upload speeds.

1st December, 2016

Gloucestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council have today recommended awarding the contract to Gigaclear to deliver phase two of the Fastershire broadband rollout in parts of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and the Golden Valley in Herefordshire.

21st November, 2016

Visitors and businesses in Hereford will now be able benefit from free WiFi access across the city centre thanks to Faster City. The new network has been launched by Hereford City Life and is a joint partnership Fastershire broadband project, allowing shoppers and businesses access to the internet at no cost and without restrictions on time.

2nd November, 2016

The Cotswolds is the first area of the Fastershire project in phase 2 rollout and has already reached its halfway mark.
The brand new, future-proof pure fibre network has been installed directly at more than to 3,000 homes and businesses.

26th October, 2015

24th August, 2014

BT have donated satellite technology to the Fastershire campaign for use in the campaign's CREATE:Lab, a mobile training and demonstration facility able to deliver onsite support to businesses and communities across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

4th March, 2014

Business Stories

Way2Go Adventures is a family owned outdoor activity provider in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley, run by mother and son team, Dianne Worrall and Wayne Morgan. Dianne has accessed a range of business support and training offered by Fastershire, FasterBusiness programme.

Louise Roberts runs Alimenti Food Sciences and offers technical consultancy to small food and drink businesses. Louise has attended a range of FasterBusiness training sessions and had a one-to-one Business Review with FasterBusiness advisor, Jack McCaughtrie.

Claire Howlett runs Wicton Farm, an organic dairy farm in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside, with her brother following the retirement of their parents three years ago.
Claire returned to Herefordshire to run the family farm after previously working in Tanzania, Senegal and Cambodia for an international volunteering organisation.

Dawn McMullan-Cooper is a specialist speech and language therapist and regional makaton sign language tutor for Gloucestershire. Dawn shares her journey with social media & Faster Business since starting her business in 2015.

Linda Pitcher is an artist who creates commissioned pet portraits; each individually presented in Linda’s handcrafted frames. Linda and her family moved to Herefordshire in 2015 and soon after, prompted by family health problems, she decided to make a change.

Tina Hurley owns Aloe 2 Good Life and is an independent distributor of Forever Living, selling a range of health and nutrition products. She also trains and supports people who want to run their own home-based business.

Jacqui Grocott creates luxury hand drawn and illustrated stationery, greetings cards and prints from her home in rural Herefordshire. After designing for a number of years, Jacqui finally went full-time with her business JacMac Designs in October 2015.

Claire McGrath is otherwise known as Mrs Mindset. Based in Gloucester, since 2009 she has been specialising in helping people to change their mindset to powerful ways of thinking, overcome anxiety and fears and create the future they want.

Gill and her husband have set up Swan Brewery, a micro-brewery near Leominster in Herefordshire and while Gill’s husband Jimmy does the brewing and deliveries, Gill is responsible for the company’s finances, marketing, sales, website and social media.

Jane Corner is realising her dream. As a mum with two young children and a five-acre smallholding, from July of this year, Jane will be opening her beautiful piece of the Cotswold countryside to more than just visiting family when she launches her glamping business, Campden Yurts.

Ros Hayes has been running ‘The Organised Company’ for just over a year, having previously been in the army, serving all over the world. The Organised Company offers decluttering services; helping people who are overwhelmed by their possessions to take control.

Sally Corrick has been a professional photographer since 2008. Specialising in events and wedding photography, Sally’s images have helped many brides and grooms treasure memories of their special day, as well as gracing the society pages of local magazines.

Since opening in the summer of 2012, Upper Park Cattery has provided a welcoming, caring and safe destination for discerning cats and their owners.

Moor Fascinators is a bespoke millinery service based in Ross-on-Wye owned by Julie Evans. Having decided to take the plunge and set up her own business, within two years ‘The Hat Shop’ had opened and since then it has gone from strength to strength.

Cariads Local Ltd is the brainchild of Lisa Marie Badham; with a background in design, print and advertising Lisa Marie found a gap in the market for monthly community magazines that would serve the Wye and Brecon areas, providing information on events, an advertising platform for local businesses and interesting articles.

Myrtle's Kitchen is a company that is passionate about food. With a true love for cooking, Jane Raven set up the business in Bromyard, Herefordshire, 18 months ago, combining providing chef cover for local cafes and restaurants whilst creating delicious recipes at Myrtle's Kitchen headquarters.

IT-Repairs specialise in repairs, servicing, maintenance and data recovery for all leading brands of PC and Apple Mac computer equipment. Taking a fibre broadband service has spun their business on its head with download speeds leaping from 3Mbps to 78Mbps.

Truffle Hunter imports and sells fresh truffles and are the only UK based company who manufacture truffle products. Fast, efficient communications are essential for their international business.

UKNetWeb is a technical web development company, and one of the first businesses in the UK to benefit from Superfast download speeds of 100Mbps. With 7 staff, the company provides high quality web software solutions for a wide range of international clients.

Internet Solutions Services Limited (ISSL) has been designing, building and hosting websites for 11 years and is based in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. It specialises in the estate and letting agencies market and has seen growth in its mobile web site design services due to the increased usage of smart phones. ISSL has hundreds of clients, the vast majority of which are small businesses based in the UK and Europe.

Purplepig IT provides managed IT and hosted services to businesses across Northern England. Based in Chorley, Lancashire, it upgraded to BT Infinity for Business in November 2011 and gets average speeds of 39Mb/s download and 9Mb/s upload.

Chapter Arts Centre was founded in 1971 and has grown into one of the major centres for contemporary arts in Europe. It comprises of a gallery, cinema, bar, café and over 60 performance spaces. The venue is famous for attracting bands and artists from all over the world and over 1,000 events a year take place on the premises, ranging from theatre and dance to art and animation.

Faster Events

The potential to make efficiencies and improve communications through the use of mobile technology can be significant. Improvements in performance, monitoring and day to day work routines are possible - attend the FasterFarmer's free workshop to learn how farming can harness mobile technology.

Business Broadband Grant

Can your business access up to £25,000 of capital funding to bring high speed connectivity to your premise?

Fastershire in partnership with Connecting Shropshire and Superfast Telford and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), have designed the Marches and Gloucestershire Broadband Grant.

The grant will provide up to 100% of the capital installation cost and through our registration portal we aim to help to match your business with potential suppliers who can install your high speed connectivity.

Eligibility

Your business must not be included in Fastershire’s main rollout (To check, please use the address check above)

Your business will need to be an small and medium sized enterprise (SME) and operate within an eligible sector

You can demonstrate an economic case for high speed connectivity

How to register

Step 1 - Register on the Marches and Gloucestershire Broadband Grant portal, click here. Registration is subject to approval and can take up five working days.

Step 2 - Once approved, you will be required to complete a ‘request for quotation’ form

Step 3 - Suppliers registered under the scheme will then submit quotes and you are able to select your preferred supplier.

Passport

Herefordshire Council is committed to ensuring that each business or resident who can prove the need for a Next Generation Access (NGA) connection of over 24Mbps is able to get one. If you receive a basic broadband service, but not an NGA service, through the new network and need to upgrade, there are a number of funding options available.

Who is eligible?

Your eligibility for this additional funding will be assessed upon your expression of interest. The following criteria will be assessed:

The application must be for a business or residential premise in Herefordshire

The premise or group of premises you are seeking support for must be in the eligible area of Herefordshire

The premise or group of premises will not receive NGA through the main project funding

You can demonstrate why you need NGA as opposed to the basic provision you will receive as part of the main project

How do I apply?

Because the rollout of the new fibre network is phased, additional funding for each area will only become available once work has started in an area. So applications will be processed in stages:

Step 1 - Submit your expression of interest by filling out the form below

Step 2 - If you are a business the Fastershire team will be in touch to arrange a session with an Objective Advisor to help build your business case.

Step 3 - Once funding becomes available in your area and you are eligible you will be sent an application form to complete

Step 4 - Submit your completed application form by the specified date

Step 5 - The Fastershire project team will inform you of the outcome of your application

Where to buy

Here's a list of business broadband providers who offer packages for businesses connected by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), with links to their web sites, so you can find out if they're up and running where you live.

Where to buy

Here's a list of business broadband providers who offer packages for businesses connected by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), with links to their web sites, so you can find out if they're up and running where you live.

Gigaclear Providers

Faster Business Review

The Faster Business Review is a free discussion between you and one of the Faster Business Advisors. The session is tailored to your needs and can cover topics including, social media, online marketing, websites, e-commerce, online security, software and hardware.

Request a Faster Business Review

To request a FREE business review please complete the registration form at the bottom of the page and one of our business advisors will contact you to arrange your free face to face review.

Met with a Faster Business Advisor

Faster Business has a network of local experts who are on hand to provide you with a free face to face review. The advisors are all from small business themselves and so bring with them both IT know how and a real understanding of the pressures on small business. They can help you identify ways that IT, enabled by the growing access to faster broadband, can help your business grow or reduce its costs by saving time and money.

Faster Business Social Score

Faster Business Social Score can provide you with a simple, easy to understand monthly report that will allow you to measure how well your business is performing on social media. This will give you a monthly benchmark which can help you track progress and measure the results of your work.

Faster Business Action Plan

Following your review you will be receive an infographic action plan that includes an indication of your broadband requirements against the speeds you can access, a list of the top 5-10 things you can do to improve the way the business operates and a commentary of your Faster Business Review.

Faster Business Voucher & Exclusive Offers

With your action plan you will receive £100 worth of Fastershire Vouchers to help you deliver one of the actions. To claim your Faster Business voucher, please click here. These vouchers can be redeemed to pay for software subscriptions, online marketing or even a professional's time. As a Faster Business you will also have access to a range of exclusive offers from local businesses.

Faster Business Community

Join the growing number of local businesses across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire that are already benefiting from Faster Business support.

Faster Women

Grow online and boost your business - or craft a new career.

Thanks to funding from the Government Equalities Office we have now run two Faster Women projects to support Herefordshire and Gloucestershire women to develop the digital and internet skills required to setup and develop their businesses. The second project ended in April 2016. We are now offering occasional workshops throughout the year.

Please register your interest through the link below if you would like to be notified when Faster Women workshop dates are confirmed.

If you are part of a local business network organisation that would be interested in providing workshops and training to your members and others please email faster-women@fastershire.com

Faster broadband provides an opportunity for businesses and potential entrepreneurs to take advantage of faster speeds to expand current or set-up new businesses, including home-based businesses, however the Women’s Business Council has found that for women in particular increasing digital confidence and internet know-how is key to this. Thanks to funding from the Government Equalities Office, Fastershire provided Faster Women networking opportunities, workshops and training for women to take advantage of how the internet can boost new and existing businesses.

Calling Digital Ambassadors

Are you a successful business woman working in Herefordshire or Gloucestershire who would like to share how you’ve used the internet to effectively develop a business? Do you make the most of the benefits that using the internet can bring whether it’s marketing through social media, online selling, maintaining a website, cloud computing, running a business from home?

If you’d like to help shape future projects by sharing your own knowledge and experience of successfully using digital technology please get in touch.

Faster Farmers

The Fastershire broadband project and the Herefordshire Rural Hub have come together to create Faster Farmers.

Faster Farmers aims to help farmers exploit new digital technology and methods of working to expand and grow their business by providing free training and advice.

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Stay in the loop

Faster broadband is being rolled out across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire between now but it is not possible to flick a switch to make every area go live on the same day and some areas will go live before this. Register your interest today and we will keep you in the loop about developments in your fibre broadband status.